DRT Picketville chapter presents map of 1845 Texas to BJHS

In 1845, the Republic of Texas was an independent country but was working on becoming the 28th state of the United States of America. The area that made up Texas was much larger than it was now and included parts of what are now New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.

To help students studying Texas history get a better idea of what Texas looked like back then, on Monday, April 2, the Picketville Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas presented Breckenridge Junior High School with a framed, color map of the Republic of Texas in 1845. The map will be used as a teaching aid in the school’s seventh grade Texas history classes Judy Wolfe, a past president of the organization.

In December 1845, the papers were signed by U.S. President James Polk, accepting Texas as a state. A month and a half later, Texas formally gave up its status as an independent nation and officially joined the United States.

At that time, the state comprised an area of 389,200 square miles. Texas remained that size until 1850, when it paid off some debt by trading away some of the land. Today, the state comprises an area of 268,581 square miles.

The map donated to BJHS shows how Texas looked in 1845 and has all the colonies that were in the state at the time represented on it. Wolfe said the map was given to the school in celebration of Texas History Month, which ended last week. One of the goals of the DRT is to educate people about Texas and preserve Texas history for all future generations.

According to Wolfe, the organization’s education program focuses on the fourth and seventh grade classes because that’s the grades when Texas history is taught in the public schools. She said some of the items the group has presented to the schools in the past have included a copy of the Travis Letter and Texas Declaration of Independence printed on parchment paper.

Wolfe said the group also presented one of the maps to Cisco Junior High.

The DRT is an organization of women whose ancestors were in Texas before it became a state.

Story by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Cutline, top photo: Members of the Picketville Daughters of the Republic of Texas present an 1845 Texas map to Breckenridge Junior High School Texas history teacher Donny Funderburg at the school on Monday. Pictured are, front row, from left, seventh-grader Regan Armstrong, teacher Donny Funderburg, and DRT member Susan Hare; and, back row, from left, BJHS Principal Mich Etzel, seventh-grader Jayce Hare and DRT member Barbara Trammell. Hare is a member of the Children of the Republic of Texas, a youth organization sponsored by the DRT, and Armstrong won this year’s local DRT essay contest. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)